Tuesday, August 28, 2012

day 85 - 112, Beijing District

Day 85, 150 km

Next morning I woke up at 3 and could not sleep. Instead I checked if I had got any sms. Hans Georg had written that he was interested to go together with me to my Warmshower-host Livy Ge. I answered him that I was actually almost in the same town and that we maybe could meet before we went there. At six he answered that I was welcome to his hotel to get a breakfast. I rode the 25 km to the hotel and there he told me that most of the Chinese hotels are not allowed to host foreigners! It was difficult for him to find a room and finally he had to take a dubble-room in a quite expensive hotel. That was the reason why I could eat breakfast there. And it really was worth to make the way 15 km longer!
After the breakfast we biked together on the old road and passed a giant coal-power station and then a city with a lot of people, cars, and bikes. Most of them actually drove electric bikes. It was really nice to experience the Chinese atmosphere and to have somebody to talk to. H-G is engineer and very interested in alternative energy questions so we discussed how much sense it made when everybody was riding electric bikes as long as the energy came from the coal power station.
It was difficult to find the mainroad through the town so we had to ask several times. Everybody we asked actually said the same so we trusted them, but five kilometers later it showed out to be the wrong road anyway. Because we did not want to return 5 km we lifted our bikes up to the highway and took a shortcut. There we decided to stay because the highway came much closer to Kanzhuang, the town were Livy Ge waited for us.
My pedal was very bad now again, it almost fell out of its hole. But I could ride in the windshadow of H-G so it was not so difficult for me.
We passed a very beautiful landscape with deep valleys 
and high mountains. 
But it was a little misty.

Finally we arrived at the Beijing Renwen University and called Livy Ge. 
He also came with an electro-bike and brought us to his parents house. 
His mother worked as cook and had prepared a wonderful meal for us.
In the evening Livy Ge showed us the town and invited us to test more Chinese food. Amongst others we tested shredded cartilage (bråsk/Knorpel)
Then we went to bed in the beautiful home of Livy Ge.

Day 86, 20 km.

Next day the first thing we did was to see if the local bicycle dealer could help me. Actually ha had a crank with three gears that almost fitted. Of course I cannot use the smallest cogwheel but I think I can make it to Beijing and fix a new longer axle there. It was scratchy and dirty so it was not so expensive (together with a new pedal 55 Yuan).
Then we ate breakfast in a little breakfast restaurant. They made fresh bread outside which you ate together with a soup. 
Then Livy Ge helped me to buy a new phonecard.
We decided to ride on our bicycles to the Great Wall which had a very famous tourist point in Badalin, only 10 km away. Livy Ge rode on his mothers bike.
We bought tickets for the cable car bot the queue was several hundred meters long! 
Finally we came up but there the queue continued up to the Great wall.
It was incredible how crowded it was on the wall neaar the cable car. Sometimes you were happy when you could move one step per ten seconds. And about 99% were Chinese people. Even they stared at us and wanted to take pictures of us together with them. Especially H-G was very popular because he is more than 2 m and has long blond hair. We joked about that he should take paid for every photo they took an he would become rich...
You could walk several kilometers and then there was not so much people.
I wore my t-shirt of my sponsor of Svartsö Matsal, so now this place will be known in whole China.
But to walk on the wall was very exhausting because it was hot and it was going up and down all the time. 
Sometimes it was really steep so many people had difficulties with their shoes and climbed over the steps without any shoes. The steps could be much higher than deep.
In the end we just sat down
ate some food and watched people going around and taking pictures.
Finally we walked down to our bikes and rode home to Livy Ge's house. There we ate dinner and then we went to an Internet cafe where I hoped to be able to solve my technical problems. Unfortunately there was no WIFI in the whole town and at the cafe it was forbidden and impossible to up- and download anything. Anyway we had a good time there and made many important things.

Day 86, 10 km

Livy Ge had to get up early because he worked in Beijing and H-G wanted to go there by bike to organize and prepare his studies at the University. I had got contact with an organic farm in the very same city where I was and I should be there at 8. So we said good bye to each other and to Livy Ges parents.

Day 85 – 111 beijing
Here is a short summary of my wonderful time in Beijing:
First I stayed for two days at a farm called Organic and beyond.
I also went to the interantional airport of Beijing to meet my son Anton who now studies in Hongkong. He had some hours waiting time and we used it to go downtown Beijing and have a good time.
Then I moved to another farm which had many fields with flowers and vegetables.
Here are my working mates:

People from whole Beijing came there looked at the flowers, picked some vegetables and took many pictures. 


Also local TV and newspapers came and interviewed me about my journey. I asked them to mail a link with the interview but there never came any. Instead I heared from  people I met that they had read about me in the newspapers or that they had seen me on TV.
I volonteered also by participating in luxourios dinners with politicans of the town.
The farmers owner Suwen (left) was marketing her farm intensely and introduced me as her foreign friend. I also became photomodel in one of the brochures of the farm.

From the farm I made different excoursions by bike, amongst others to a grassland where I rode on a horse
and to a george where I took a boat on a river 
and then climbed a very steep mountain. 
I liked it so much 
that I decided to climb another big holy mountain 500 km south of Beijing before I would go to South Korea.
The third week I was invented to one of the new Waldorfschools in Beijing. 
I told about my journey for class four and showed them many pictures.
I also went with them to the northern mountains. 
When Chinese people rest they often sit in a very special way

















There we slept in tents. 
In the evening we made a fire and the children sang chinese songs.
Next day we climbed on a mountain and had a wonderful view.
Then I worked some days in the garden of the new school. Nobody had taken care of this gaden for ages, so it was almost like a jungle. The last day of my visit we made an excursion by bicycle in the sourroundings
and in the afternoon we made huge compost heaps in the garden.
I also made eccursions downtown Beijing and saw the tempel of heaven, the forbidden city the summer pallace and the botanical garden.
Here are some pictures (I made several hundreds):










The last evening in Beijing (the same day we rode bicycle and made compost), I met Levi Ge (which I had met my first day in Beijing) and Hans Georg (which I had met in the Gobi desert and some more times after that). He brought also his room mates who like him study chinese language.We decided to invite Livy Ge to a german restaurant called Schindlers Tankstelle.

Day 78 – 84, Saynshand (Mongolia) to Zhangjakou (China)

You wonder maybe two things:
  1. why I did not update my Blog for such a long time
  2. why I did ride almost nonstop to China although I originally had planned 3-4 months for it?

The answer for question one is that since I came too China I could not go to facebook or blogspot, it is blocked by the Chinese government. Actually I got a program (Freegate) from my son but I could not download it to my mobile and there was no WIFI anywhere. One evening I tried at a Internetcafe but the USB was disconnected and it was forbidden to up- or download anything. But now (day 87) I am finally in a private WIFI and I succeeded to install the program and to connect to the forbidden sites!
The reason why I don't write until day 87 is that it should be too much in one post.

The answer for question two is that the day I left Stockholm I went to my travel agency to get my passport with a visa for China, which should be valid until the 25th of September. As I checked it I found out that the last day of arrival was the 24th of August. I told them that I impossibly could reach China by bike so fast (which I really was convinced of).
They wanted to prolong it but I could not miss the ferry to Riga, so I got it without paying and said I would try to prolong it in Moscow.
In Moscow the people at the chinese embassy told me that it was impossible to get a visa without a (train)ticket. I did not want to tell the embassy that I was planning to ride my bicycle through China, because I knew that for this you need a VERY special visa. Instead I decided to continue to Ulaanbaatar and maybe get a visa there. (I knew it was possible to take the bicycle inside a taxi over the border).
As I did not get a job on a farm around Moscow, I continued without many restingdays (all farmers in Russia seem to have more important things to do than check their email every day. I got two positive answers but both came after some weeks, which was several days after I had passed the places).
Thanks good weather and many helpful people along the way I actually came to China before the 25th of August and did not have to apply for a new visa. Appart from the complications I saved about twohundred dollars (please don't tell it my travel agency)!

But now I will tell you what happened after Saynshand in Mongolia

Day 78, 100 km

I woke up in the hotel and wrote my blogtext on my computer. At ten o´clock, when the Internet cafe opened, I went there and the first I did was to upload 16 pics to my blog. Meanwhile they were uploading I could do many other important things. But it took much more than one hour to upload them! Finally I tried to upload the text also but the computer could not open the document (it was written with Open Office). So I decided to do it later and instead to continure my travel.
It was already afternoon when I left the town, equipped with ten waterbottles. I had 219 km of the Gobi desert in front of me (until the border town Sami Uud) and I had no bicycle computer, so I did not know the time and not the distance I was riding. The wind was blowing strongly from my right side (SW) but the road was good nd I really enjoyed the day. 
The asphalt road which had begun 408 km after UB continued until km 535 and there was almost no traffic. But the land was very dry. 
The cattles had not easy to find water.
In the afternoon a mopedtruck with three wheels stopped and the driver asked if I would like to get a ride. I was not convinced, but he told me (with signs and body-language) that he was living not far away in a yurt and he had children who would be happy if I slept there. Although it was not late yet I thought I was not in a hurry and it was impossible to find a good shelter in the desert, so finally I agreed. 
He drove me some kilometers, then he pointed out where he lived. Then he continued one more kilometer and dropped me off. I don¨t know if I misunderstood him or if he changed his mind, but I could not do anything but continue.
In the evening, exactly when I had found a little canyon near a waterhole, a overloaded Jeep stopped (I belive it was a family, three generations, about 8 people inside). The driver was worried about me and asked if I wanted to go with them. But I said I was fine and planned to sleep in my tent.
Although my tent was in a good shelter the wind was so strong that it made noises all night long.

Day 79, 100 km and a lift of 20 km

Next day was a warm and sunny day with a hot dry wind from SW and in the afternoon from W. 
That meant that I mostly had wind from the side. It was quite difficult to ride on the gravel roads because the bike sometimes was drifting sidewards on the round stones. Many cars stopped that day and offered a ride. But I liked the challenge of the Gobi desert! I thought as long as I had water and food I would fight. Some drivers who stopped asked if I really was alone. When I said I was fine and did not need a lift they just shaked their heads and propably said “crazy man” in their language.
In the afternoon the wind and the road turned in advantageous ways so I got wind from behind! Now I rode really fast! 
sandstorms ahead of me!
Sometimes it was a little like skiing down from steep hills. It was fun! Late in the afternoon I finally saw a town far away. I understood that this must be Sami Uud, the border town to China. Some trucks had stopped and I asked if they were going to China this evening and if I could get a lift (I actually did not want to pay a taxi over the border). They agreed and we came to Sami Uud exactly as sun set. But the queue of lorries was incredible long, so the driver decided to visit a friend in the town instead and told me to go to a hotel. On the way to the hotel I rode through a slummy suburb. I asked some people if I could sleep in my tent in their yard. And of course I could! 
They even invited me for dinner in their tiny little house. I cant remember how many people they were, but about ten in two rooms. When I asked where I could wash my hands a boy took a water can and a soap and went out on the street with me. There was no water tap and no sink inside the house.

Day 80, 10 km and a lift over the border to China

Next day, early on the morning I got up and walked to the center of the town to find out how much a Jeep-taxi should cost to get over the border. At the central square I saw them and got many offers. Suddenly I heard a german voice saying: “How have you come here?” It was Hans-Georg, who I separated from three days before. He told me that he also had spent a night in Saynshand but that he could not send an sms and he had chosen another hotel. He had left it early in the morning, so he had come to Sami Uud a half day earlier than me. On the way he was invited to eat some dried fruits and he thought it was therefore he had become really sick (fever, diarrhea and vomiting). He had been at a hospital until 1 in the morning and got some prescriptions for antibiotics. Now he was waiting until the pharmacy should open, but he was planning to continue as soon as possible.
We decided that I should go to get my bike and that we together should try to ride as near as possible to the border and take a Jeep together (if it really was necessary).

And so we did. Actually we needed a Jeep in the end but we were much faster than the ones which took a Jeep in the center.
We had to carry our bags through the customs while the jeep was waiting outside with our bicycles. When we came out of the customs on the chines side it was as if we came to a new world! Everything was clean and new. 
There was no sand on the streets, there were green bushes and bright flowers and no litter! We had to take the jeep about 8 km more to the center of the chines border town. This town has (at least) three names. In Mongolia you call it Ereen, in China you call it Erlien (you pronounce it Arlien) nand in English you call it Erenhot. There live about 400 000 people, which means it is not much for China.
It was not difficult to find a hotel and it was surprisingly cheap. We shared a room so we payed 45 Yuan each. That is about 5 EUR.
our hotel shifted colour in the evening every five seconds

The afternoon we had a resting day. First we went to a kind of McDonalds and ate fast food. 
Then I found a bike shop and replaced my broken spoke and bought a new bicycle computer. I also bought some new pedals (which I should regret).
In the evening I found out that not only fast-food is very cheap in China. I ate a plate with Sushi (15 pieces) for 12 Yuan.

Day 81, 170 km

Hans-Georg still felt weak so he wanted to take another resting day. He had been to the toilet several times that night and was worried that the antibiotics he had got was an old sort which his bacterias were immune to. By sms to Germany he had found out that there were much better antibiotics in Europe. I checked the name of the medicine I had brought from Sweden and it was exactly the one which he had been recommended, so I gave it to him.
I wanted to continue, so I checked the weather forecast at www.klart.se. There I found out that there should be a strong wind from behind. The rest of the week the wind was not so good. That made H-G change his mind. He decided to go with me.
Although we started first 10:30 we made many kilometers through the Gobi desert that day. First we passed a wind power park with many sculptures of different dinosaurs. 
In the end two dinosaurs made an arrow like a bridge over the road. 
Were they kissing each other?
The road was a toll road but bicyclist of course did not need to pay.
It really felt very luxurious to ride through the southern part of the Gobi on this road with a good wind from behind!
H-G did not want to go to far so he decided to stay in a hotel in a town 120 km from the border. But I wanted to use the strong wind from behind and continued. In the end I was worried how I could find a place to sleep. There was not a single tree around and worst of all was that the new highway was surrounded by barbed wire. After 45 km there was an exit with a tull gate. 
this picture was taken next morning
I went there and asked if I could sleep in my tent in the wind-shadow of the house. The guard called a kind of officer who could speak English. He asked me to follow him inside a big house next to the gate. There he asked his boss, a women in uniform with a poker-face, and she said it was ok. So everybody who was working there followed with me outside and watched how I unpacked my tent and my sleeping equipment. Somebody came with a huge thermos with hot water, which I could pour over my noodles and even make some tea. Very convenient! Many wanted to take pictures of me together with them and I made a picture of them. 
The officer with the hat said "Welcome to China!"
They had a good time but finally they thought it was too cold so they went into the house again.

Day 82, 90 km

Next morning was cold but beautiful. The wind had turned so it came from my right side and it was still very strong. I left the toll gate station and continued towards south.
Now there was almost no traffic on the highway because there was a alternative: the old road did not cost toll so everybody besides coaches and very rich people used it.
After about 15 km suddenly my right pedal broke out of its threads. I found out that the reason must have been that the Chinese pedals I bought had about two mm shorter threads.
I tried to fix it with some tape but there was no chance. I made many attempts to continue: First I tried with only one pedal and even my left foot became too tired tired, I used my right food to kick me forward. But it was very exhausting. Finally I found a piece of wood and took my swiss army knife to cut a piece that fitted in the hole of the pedal. But even this attempt did not succeed, the wood broke at once. Finally I climbed off the bike and pushed the bike some kilometers while I tried to stop a car. Finally a man in a very new Golf stopped. But he thought the bike with all panniers was too big for his car (which I understand) and he continued. But then an older Jeep stopped. I used translate.google.com to communicate and explained that I needed help to find the closest bike-shop. They said there was one 23 km behind me or 46 km in front of me. I asked them where they were going and if they possibly could give me a lift. They explained that they did not go so far but then they got an Idea. We loaded the bike into the Jeep and the drove me some kilometers to a little village where they lived. They brought me to a local welder who welded a piece of threaded rod on the pedal. Then he cut the threaded rod and put a nut on the inside of the crank He even fixed the nut by welding on it.
Unfortunately the nut collided with the chain when I used the highest gears, but I was very happy to be able to go at least to the next town. So I payed them and continued, this time on the old road (because all trucks were goig there and i thought it would be easier to get lift in case I needed it.
Already after 2 km the pedal begun to wickle in its hole which made it bigger and bigger. I thought it was no problem to ride the 46 km to the next town, but it took some time because of the wind. Finally I arrived there and found a repair shop. They told me that there were no bicycles of this type in that town. There were only bikes with two and not three gears on the crank. The shopkeeper offered me to change the crankset and the axle to a Chinese model but I did not believe it should fit, so I continued.
After a while I thought that maybe the host from Warmshowers (Livy Ge), which I had got in contact with, could give me a hint where I could buy a good crankset. So I called him and told him about my problem. He said that he should send an e-mail. In the evening I checked my mail and he had got in contact with a dealer in Shangdu, about 50 km east from my place. Although I already had passed the shortest way to that town, I decided to go there next morning.

Day 83, 100 km

I rode on small beautiful roads until noon. As soon as I stopped in Shangdu a curious crowd was around me and it was not difficult to get a guide on an electric moped who showed me the way to the shop.
But even in this shop there was no fitting crankset. The shopkeeper was very helpful an took his bike to go to other shops but the best solution we found was to improve the welding. It took several attempts and hours, but finally I left the shop with a full stomach, filled waterbottles, a new t-shirt and a welding that seemed to be very good, even after 100 km. 
The shopkeeper and his wife insisted to do everything for free!
I continued on small roads towards south, where I should come to the mainroad again. The vegetation was much greener now and there were woods again. The houses in the villages were built of sun-dried clay-bricks. Not all of them had roofs covered with tiles, often even the roof was made only of clay and sand!
I also pass a lake where I can take my first lake-bath after the Baikal Lake.
In the evening I found a field with bushes. Since it was already dark I did not care about that it was quite close to a farm. But after an hour I heard somebody walking close to my tent. It was a person with a dog which discovered me. The dog barked a lot but they soon disappeared. After about ten minutes they came back with a lot of people who even had some flashlights. I decided to open the tent and sine with my own flashlight in my face at the same time as I told them in English that I just wanted to sleep there and that I hoped it was ok. I don't know if they understood, but soon they disappeared anyway.

Day 84, 140 km

I continued on small roads towards south and passed many villages where all houses were built of clay and sand. 
Many of the people I met seemed to never have seen a westerner before. They stared t me as if I was an Alien! My pedal was getting worse again, thee was a gap again. And I had a headwind all day long, even when I came to the mainroad and turned towards east.
Parallel to the mainroad there was the old road which was quite good and much more interesting than the highway. But in a downhill passage there was no asphalt on the old road so it was very dusty (a lot of trucks chose this road because there were no toll on it). 

That gave me the idea to try the highway and I found out that it was much faster even for me. Now there were many more exits and so called “Service Areas” were it was possible to rest. These areas had all the same concept: There was a toilet, a supermarket, a restaurant and a police station. Sometimes there was a motel too. At sunset I came to a Service Area without motel. I found a place behind the house where I could hide my tent, but at the same time a curious attendant came to talk to me.
As usual a crowd of people gathered around me and asked where I came from and where I was going. This time all of them were stuff, most girls from the supermarket. I understood that it should be difficult for me to disappear discretely behind the house. Besides from that I thought it could be good if the attendant knew that I was sleeping in my tent there so he would not be angry with me. So I wrote in my phone (where I have google translate) “I want to sleep in my tent behind the house. Is that ok?” The attendant hesitated, then he said wait a moment and run to the Police station. He came back with an officer who not really could answer the question, but gave one of the girls the permission to find a place. I convinced her that the place I had chosen was the best one and raised my tent there.I already had put in all my bags when the police officer came back with his boss. The first thing the boss did was to scream at me. I said that I was sorry that I did not understand, but suddenly he was very kind and let me know that it was ok tat I slept there. I don´t understand how 8 crew from the Service Area at the same time could be at my tent behind the building, but everybody was very concerned about me. First they asked if I was not afraid to become bitten by mosquitoes (although there were no mosquitoes at all and I have a net in the door of my tent). Then they discussed if I would freeze in the night. If I understood their body language right, they finally came to the conclusion that I would not freeze because I had so much fur on my body (many Asians I met were very fascinated of my hairy legs and arms).
Finally I left my tent and said I would like to eat something. The girls from the supermarket showed me that there was an automate with free boiling water which I could pour over my noodles. Everybody did so, they bought a big bowl with dry noodles for some Yuan and had water on it.
After I had charged my phone I went to bed in my tent.